'Batman Live' in Anaheim scores a partial knockout

Sept. 6, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Sam Heughan, one of two actors to play the title role, appears in a scene from "Batman Live." The arena spectacular is kicking off its U.S. tour at Honda Center in Anaheim, where it will play through Sunday. BATMAN LIVE

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"Batman Live" uses animation and visual design to create the sense of a living comic book. BATMAN LIVE

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The Batmobile is among the impressive visual feats in "Batman Live." BATMAN LIVE

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An extravaganza designed for arenas, "Batman Live" includes a full orchestra, a Batmobile dreamed up by a Formula 1 race car designer, large-scale scenic and lighting effects, and of course plenty of flying, fighting and tricky cape work. BATMAN LIVE

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In "Batman Live," audiences are whisked from a vertiginous view of Gotham City to the inside of a circus tent, from the Batcave to the rooftops and Arkham Asylum. BATMAN LIVE

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The show's creators went back to the source: Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the late comic artists who created Batman for DC Comics. BATMAN LIVE

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'Batman Live' is a new $19-million arena show that employs more than 100 performers and behind-the-scenes workers. It makes its U.S. debut at Anaheim's Honda Center through Sept. 9. BATMAN LIVE

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Settings for the show include Gotham City, Wayne Manor, the Batcave, Arkham Asylum and Haley's Circus, all designed by the award-winning Es Devlin. BATMAN LIVE

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"Batman Live" features all of the Caped Crusader's most nefarious enemies: The Joker, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, The Penguin, Two-Face, The Riddler. BATMAN LIVE

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"Batman Live" employs 48 cast members and 42 crew. It made its world premiere last summer in the U.K. BATMAN LIVE

Sam Heughan, one of two actors to play the title role, appears in a scene from "Batman Live." The arena spectacular is kicking off its U.S. tour at Honda Center in Anaheim, where it will play through Sunday.BATMAN LIVE

When looking out at the throngs of families mobbing Honda Center for the North American premiere of the "Batman Live" arena show, you realize the biggest challenge in creating the show had to revolve around how to serve its two core audiences.

That would be one, superhero-worshipping kids and teens and, two, everyone else, including just about anyone over the age of 30.

Youngsters and, most likely young adults too, seek action, fight scenes, color, pyrotechnics and whatever other razzle-dazzle can be generated. Adults are going to expect something more – perhaps a coherent story-line and satisfying characters and dialogue to go along with the spectacle.

The show, at Honda Center through Sunday as the first appearance of its current North American tour, seems to split the difference – too general and simplistic for adults and fans while not sufficiently adrenaline-rushed for kids.

The finished product is a visual triumph, an impressive amalgamation of animation, scenic design, automation, modeling, aerial work, lighting, sound, costumes, pyrotechnics, special effects and illusions. Handled like a two-act play, "Batman Live" offers a fairly basic version of the Batman legend that begins when young Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents' murder by an armed robber.

The story then skips forward, showing adult Bruce Wayne as Gotham City's "billionaire playboy" and Batman in full crime-fighting swing. Working from his story with Stan Berkowitz and Alan Burnett, writer Allan Heinberg has blended various aspects and takes on Batman, with generous doses of "The Dark Knight" (although not as grim as the Christopher Nolan films). Heinberg also makes the risky assumption that we already know minute details of the superhero's back-story.

As with the 1966 feature film "Batman," the arena show teams the comic strip's four most prominent adversaries – Penguin (Alex Giannini), The Riddler (Christopher Price), Catwoman (Emma Clifford) and, most lethal of all, The Joker (Mark Frost). That roster is then super-sized by the addition of Two-Face (Christopher D Hunt), Poison Ivy (Valerie Murzak) and Scarecrow (Benos Noble) and with comic relief by Poppy Tierney as Joker's ditsy moll, Harley Quinn ("harlequin," get it?).

"Batman Live" focuses on the arrival of Dick Grayson into Bruce Wayne's life, Dick's discovery that Wayne is Batman, and Dick's evolution from grief-stricken teen bent on exacting revenge for the Joker's murder of his parents into Batman's junior crime-fighting partner, who is named for his boyhood idol, Robin Hood.

The role of Batman/Bruce Wayne is shared by Sam Heughan and Jack Walker. Robin/Dick Grayson is played by Michael Pickering. And despite the actors' admirable and enjoyable handling of their courageous, heroic characters, several cast mates outshine them.

Tops here would have to be Clifford, whose slinky Catwoman introduces an intriguing ambivalence that the role has always possessed. She's a criminal, yes, but is clearly attracted to Batman – and even teams with him and Robin during the final battle.

Frost's Joker is a snarky, giggly, dandified thug whose every statement rings with a self-congratulatory tone. John Harding's calm manner and light British accent belie the fact that Alfred, Bruce's butler and trusted friend, was in England's equivalent of the CIA – and, as Robin learns, transformed young Bruce Wayne into the Batman.

We'd be kidding, though, if we reported that the actors and their characterizations are the reason "Batman Live" is so exciting. Wedded to visuals like the scenic design and costumes, Chris Cousins, Mark Hough and Damian Hale's incredible animation gives the show the feeling of a living comic book, with a Batman's-eye-view of a high-speed Batmobile ride as just one of many highlights.

The names of an army of designers and technicians fill nearly two pages of the thick, lavish backgrounder given to the media, including co-directors and producers Anthony Van Last, Nick Grace, James Powell, Jenny Sawyer, Es Devlin and Jake Berry.

The other technical and special effects plus the sound (by Simon Baker), lighting (by Patrick Woodroffe) and video work (Luke Halls and Sam Pattinson) combine for a satisfyingly kinetic experience.

Jack Galloway's costumes are as grand as any "Batman" movie, and Scott Fisher's aerial designs and Kevin McCurdy's fight direction give the many circus and combat scenes authenticity, boosted by the superb talents of the 32-person ensemble.

James Seymour Brett's musical score uses Wagnerian swells and crescendoes to carry us along in a way that is, like much of "Batman Live," engagingly cinematic. That is, it's enough to satisfy kids and the kid in every adult.

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